An in-depth profile of Eastern Mennonite University's
international education efforts is featured in a report published April
16, 2003, by the Association of International Educators (NAFSA).
The
major report, titled "Internationalizing the Campus,"
highlights six U.S. colleges and universities, including
EMU, that have done "a significant job of integrating
global approaches to teaching into all aspects of
campus life and learning" - through study abroad programs,
faculty and scholar exchanges, new curricula and other
means. The report also includes shorter program highlights
of 10 other schools.
"Internationalization efforts on our college campuses
are part of the lifeblood of American leadership in the world today,"
said Marlene Johnson, NAFSA executive director. "The institutions highlighted
in this report have developed innovative ways to educate our students
for a world in which global challenges know few boundaries and cross-cultural
knowledge and understanding are essential."
The 108-page softcover report details model approaches,
exemplary practices and major trends in international education in the
U.S. The featured institutions were selected by a distinguished advisory
committee of international educators who examined the mission, breadth,
commitment and impact of internationalization efforts at 117 schools
nominated for consideration.
"It's
a major honor to be selected for this profile," said Delores A.(Delo)
Blough, director of international
student programs and coordinator of diversity initiatives at EMU.
"It means that we are doing a good job of integrating international
learning across our academic programs. The report
will be distributed widely and will provide a positive boost for EMU's
efforts in this arena," she added.
Ms. Blough believes that EMU was selected for the report
based on the school's longstanding commitment to international learning,
including its cross-cultural study programs, the significant number
of international students on campus, its widely-recognized Conflict
Transformation Program (CTP) and Summer Peacebuilding
Institute that attracts students from around the world, the
Intensive English Program (IEP) that prepares students from other
countries for undergraduate study and the native-speaking language assistants
who teach in the language and literature department each year.
Chris Connell, a former Associated Press reporter and
now a free- lance writer, visited each campus last fall to gather information
for the report. During an Oct. 10-11 visit to EMU, he talked with university
officials, faculty and students, observed classes and attended a special
chapel program that launched fall homecoming weekend activities on a
cross-cultural theme.
Through case studies and campus models, "Internationalizing
the Campus" illustrates the major benefit that international education
brings to society; the vital need to prepare future generations for
leadership in the global marketplace; and the importance of a strong
U.S. commitment to international education.
EMU made cross-cultural study
a graduation requirement in 1982. A survey listing in the 2003 edition
of the U.S. News & World Report's magazine's "America's Best
Colleges" issue ranked EMU sixth in the nation among all colleges and
universities in the percentage of its student body (67%) that participates
in off-campus study programs.
In his profile of EMU, Connell quoted extensively from
students who had taken "life-changing" cross-cultural seminars, from
faculty and administrators who helped shape the university's "Global
Village" curriculum and from international students who enrolled in
EMU's graduate-level Conflict Transformation Program.
The report also notes such distinctives as the university's
radio station extensive use of news and other programming
from the British Broadcasting Corporation and the Harrisonburg-based
China
Educational Exchange (CEE) program that gives Chinese educators
and students opportunity to study at EMU. It concludes with "sidebar"
profiles of individual students.
Along with EMU, the other schools with in-depth
profiles for their international education efforts are Yale University,
San Diego State University, Indiana University, Community College of
Philadelphia and Dickinson College.
More information on the report and how to obtain copies
is available on the NAFSA website at www.NAFSA.org/press.
NAFSA was founded in 1948 as the National Association
of Foreign Student Advisers to promote the professional development
of American college and university officials responsible for assisting
and advising the 25,000 foreign students who had come to study in the
United States after World War II.
By 1990, as the number of foreign students in the
U.S. approached the 400,000 mark, there were 6,400 NAFSA members
on 1,800 campuses. In May of that year, the membership formally renamed
the organization the Association of International Educators while retaining
the NAFSA acronym to reflect the past and broad name recognition.
With more than 8,500 members, NAFSA , based in Washington,
D.C., is now the world's largest nonprofit association dedicated to
international education.
- Jim Bishop
Posted: April
21, 2003
